Smaug, from The Hobbit

[smaug_thegolden]

((Permission granted by the other Tolkien players on the active roster. Smaug has several noteworthy abilities including "Dragon-spell", which he can use if someone looks into his eyes. Characters are free to react or not at your discretion. Unless he's trying to exert his will upon someone it probably isn't a great concern.))Outside one of the

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[ra_tilt_chimera]

Zel hadn't spoken to a dragon in some time - and Filia was quite a different sort of dragon than this. He had, however, elected to keep his hood up, hiding his face - and shielding his eyes from the dragon's gaze. "A dragon willing to part with jewels and gold. That's an unusual sight."

[smaug_thegolden]

The hood was a small nuisance, but not yet a concern. The weight of Smaug's burning gaze remained fixed upon the chimera all the same as he contemplated what was before him.

"Indeed," the dragon acknowledged. "As unusual as yourself, perhaps. Almost but not quite a Man... I can smell the enchantment."

[ra_tilt_chimera]

"You've a keener nose than most, then." A thought crossed Zel's mind. This dragon would either scare Filia senseless or make her almost as mad as Xellos does. "One might wonder why you'd need to see others, then."

[smaug_thegolden]

"I said nothing of need," Smaug replied lightly. He really hadn't meant to tip his hand with that last question on the parchment, and was beginning to regret it a little now. "It is merely polite to look at those you address, wouldn't you say?"

[ra_tilt_chimera]

"Perhaps. I've never felt it necessary." In his own world, he'd often conducted business not only with his hood up but with his mask on. Then again, that had been to avoid revealing the fact that he was a chimera at all.

[smaug_thegolden]

"I suppose that's to be expected, eh," Smaug said, guessing pretty accurately why a chimera might prefer to go hooded. But he wasn't inclined to argue the point. It would only serve to make it even more obvious just where his advantage lay.

"Well, you are here for a purpose, aren't you. What then will you ask of me?"

[ra_tilt_chimera]

"I couldn't say, yet." Zel stepped out from the wall, still not lowering his hood - if the dragon wanted it badly enough to specify, it almost certainly gave him an advantage. "I'm sure you have a name. Something of your power would probably be given one by those envious of you or a fool who's tried to use you, if you began with none of your own."

[smaug_thegolden]

Smaug enjoyed what he perceived to be flattery from the chimera, even taking a moment to preen.

"I've had as many names as I have teeth, and indeed, none whom I've ever called master." Only knowing his true name, perhaps, would grant someone any vestige of control over him. And he was so old now even that was doubtful.

"Smaug," he said, drawing himself up, "the Golden, the Mighty, the Dreadful-all depending on who you speak to." He bared his teeth in a reptilian smile. "That's what I'm called in the Common tongue. And yourself?"

[ra_tilt_chimera]

It had been a statement of fact - Zel doubted anyone could control a dragon like this even if it wasn't apparently much more intelligent than most humans - but it had implied a deference he didn't necessarily feel. "Some call me the heartless mystical swordsman," he replied.

[smaug_thegolden]

Avoiding giving one's name when dealing with dragons was always the wisest course of action. It was a cautionary tradition in Smaug's own land, handed down from generation to generation so that even those who'd never before laid eyes on a dragon-and who might even doubt their existence-still grew up with the knowledge of how to speak to one.

Smaug's interest was sharpened, to say the least.

"And how come you by this title, swordsman?"

[ra_tilt_chimera]

Zel smiled sardonically. "I worked as bodyguard to a wizard once and developed something of a... reputation. I doubt there's need to ask how you earned your own, Smaug the Golden."

[smaug_thegolden]

"A mere bodyguard," Smaug mused, tilting his head as though it might afford him a better view of Zel. He still couldn't see past the hood. "This wizard of yours must have been weak, to require one."

He was thinking of the Wizards of his own land. They were well respected and feared for good reason-and not even Smaug was keen to face any, though he considered them weaker than himself. Wizards tended to be very resourceful.

[ra_tilt_chimera]

"His power was more political than magical," Zel agreed. Daymia had been a candidate for chairman of the Sorcerer's Guild, and not exactly stable. That incident hadn't ended well for Daymia or his opponent, Talim. "In the end, an outside force more powerful than he that I failed to anticipate abruptly terminated my contract by causing my charge to be jailed for a crime he did not commit."

[smaug_thegolden]

Smaug considered this new information, as always weighing how useful it might be to him.

"Were you wholly a Man then?" he asked, lowering his head slightly. "Or is this change in you not a recent occurrence?"

[ra_tilt_chimera]

"I was like this then, yes. The change took place five years ago, now." And still no sign of a cure. Zel tried to keep his emotions out of his voice - no doubt the dragon would love some sort of leverage against him. "What of yourself, Smaug the Golden? I fear your fame has not reached to the far-flung place I hail from."